Re:The slow collapse of Amazon’s drone delivery dream
by salt-thrower on Wednesday August 04, 2021 @06:32PM
(#28067305)
The only hurdle was that the drones had to be so heavy to handle packages that it put them in a higher weight class subject to more rules. But other than that, the article mentions that the UK and the US regulatory bodies have both approved the project.
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Re:The slow collapse of Amazon’s drone delivery dream
by lijogdfljk on Wednesday August 04, 2021 @06:39PM
(#28067373)
I wonder what the stats were on weight of packages vs required drone weight. Ie where is the cutoff of package weight, to ensure that the money they invest in drones would affect X percent of sales?
Eg i imagine if they made drones for a package weight of, say, 10 ounces, they could.. hopefully, make smaller drones and perhaps have an easier time with regulations. However the package size limit is so small that the drones aren't likely worth it.
So as we increase package weight, we include more packages and percentage of sales... but also increase drone size and regulatory issues.
I imagine there isn't a "sweet spot" otherwise they would have done it. Nevertheless i'm curious what that axis looked like.
Re:The slow collapse of Amazon’s drone delivery dream
by _rpd on Wednesday August 04, 2021 @06:41PM
(#28067399)
I don't know about the UK, but in the US the FAA required that each drone be operated by a licensed pilot, which changed the economics.
There's some talk of autonomous software being granted a pilot's license, so that might shift things again.